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Dec 31, 2018

From the advent of the earliest of the type,
submarine design has always pressed against the outer limits of the
contemporary technological envelope. Inventors and engineers have, of
necessity, incorporated new and untested machinery and equipment into
their craft in order to meet their goals of creating effective undersea
vessels. The underwater environment, moreover, is unforgiving; errors in
operation or failures of equipment have very dangerous and even fatal
consequences. Success in submarine design, therefore, has come to those
naval architects who have combined innovation and experimentation with
substantial direct, prior experience or knowledge.

The obvious potential military advantages
of the stealthy and lethal capabilities of successful submarines soon
attracted the attention of admiralties around the world. Early designers
of practical craft found a relatively ready market for their wares,
either through export or license construction by their customers.
Designs by the German Wilhelm Bauer were constructed in Germany and
Russia, while George Garrett’s boats, built by the Swedish industrialist
Thorsten Nordenfeldt in Sweden and Britain, were marketed to Greece,
Turkey, and Russia. Beginning in the years around 1900, boats by Maxime
Laubeuf in France, the Italian Cesare Laurenti, and above all, John P.
Holland in the United States, found ready markets in navies around the
world in the years before World War I.

The maturation of submarines as a result of
operations during World War I expanded the global demand for the type.
Design teams with successful records dominated this worldwide arms
market. Firms from Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and the United
States prevailed in this trade in submarines. In the German case, since
indigenous submarine design and construction had been prohibited by the
Versailles Treaty, the design teams established themselves across the
border in the Netherlands and contracted out construction to yards in
other European countries. A similar situation pertained after World War
II, although Italian designs, no longer on the cutting edge, faded from
the export market, while the emphasis on nuclear propulsion in the
United States led that nation to withdraw from overseas sales to avoid
the distribution of sensitive technologies. Its place was taken by
substantial export of both vessels and designs by the Soviet Union, the
resurgence of the German submarine industry, and the maturing of Swedish
design and construction.

Dec 28, 2018

Admiralty: Shorthand terminology for the
Royal Navy’s Board of Admiralty, which heads its central administration.
Unlike most such boards, it includes both the civilian political
appointees and the professional heads of the fleet.

Air Lock: A watertight compartment
through which a diver may pass between a submarine and the sea, pausing
within it while the air pressure is equalized with the external
environment.

Ballast Tank: A tank that may be filled or emptied of water to increase or decrease a boat’s displacement.

Ballast Tank, Saddle: Ballast tank mounted outside the main structure of the hull, named by analogy with saddlebags.

Bridge: The ship’s navigating and control station.

Bulge: Structures built onto a
ship’s side beyond the primary hull structure. Initially these were used
to enhance protection against damage from a torpedo hit but they came
to be employed more to enhance stability by increasing a hull’s internal
volume.

Jun 21, 2018

A missing German submarine said to have taken the defeated
Nazi leadership to South America has been discovered after being lost at sea
for nearly 73 years.

The U-3523 was one of Hitler’s Type XXI submarines – a new
and highly advanced design which came too late to stop an allied victory.

It was the first class of U-boats designed to sail submerged
for a prolonged period of time and had a range which allowed it to sail
non-stop to South America.

The U-3523 was thought to have been sunk by a British B24
Liberator attack on May 6, 1945, but the inability to locate the wreck fuelled
rumors that it had escaped.

Now the wreck has been located ten nautical miles north of
Skagen – Denmark’s northernmost town – and nine miles west of the position
reported by the British bomber.

Denmark’s Sea War Museum, which found the submarine, said
there was no evidence that it was escaping with Nazi leaders or loot.

Gert Normann Andersen, the museum’s director, said: “Rumor
has it that the submarine had great valuables from Germany because it was
heading away from Germany even though the war ended.”

“I think the rumor developed because U-3523 was a very
modern, long-distance U-boat and some Nazis tried to escape with valuables in
the last days.”

“But the submarine was going to Norway, and not to South
America with Nazis and valuables.”

The German Type XXI submarine was so advanced that the US,
France, Soviet Union and China would end up copying it.

Declassified documents from US intelligence have fuelled
claims that the Nazi leadership, including Adolf Hitler himself, escaped to
South America in the final days of the war.

One CIA file dated October 3, 1955, carried allegations from
a former SS trooper named Phillip Citroen that Hitler had been hiding in
Colombia and later Argentina.

The trooper even had a photo taken in 1954 in the Colombian
city of Tunja, allegedly showing him with a man said to be Hitler.

For years, the missing submarine was a locus of conspiracy
theories.

The document stated: “According to Citroen, the Germans
residing in Tunja followed this alleged Adolf Hitler with an idolatry of the
Nazi past, addressing him as ‘der Fuhrer’ and affording him the Nazi salute and
storm-trooper adulation.”

Meanwhile a file from the FBI archives, dated September 21,
1945, detailed eyewitness claims that Hitler had arrived in Argentina via a
submarine two-and-a-half weeks after the fall of Berlin.

It said: “By pre-arranged plan with six top Argentine
officials, pack horses were waiting for the group and by daylight all supplies
were loaded on the horses and an all-day trip inland toward the foothills of
the southern Andes was started.”

“At dusk the party arrived at the ranch where Hitler and his
party, according to (redacted), are now in hiding.”

Several prominent Nazis are also known to have fled to South
America, including Adolf Eichmann – a leading architect of the Holocaust, and
the notorious Auschwitz doctor Josef Mengele.

However, the new discovery proves that U-3523 never made the
trip and sank with all 58 crewmen.

Andersen also has a copy of the last telegram sent by the
submarine, dated May 5, 1945, which makes no mention of any precious cargo or
high-ranking passengers.

Nazi Germany would sign the first instrument of
unconditional surrender just two days later on May 7, 1945.

Scans of the seabed reveal the U-boat now lies in 403 feet
of water, making it very difficult to access.

Unusually, the whole fore of the ship lies buried in the
sand, while the stern stands 65 feet above the bottom.

Nazi Germany built 118 Type XXI U-boats but – due to poor
quality control – only four were fit for combat before World War II ended and
just two were deployed, neither sinking any allied ships.

Their design was later copied by Britain, the US, France and
the Soviet Union with Soviet models subsequently inspiring Chinese submarines.

Only one original Type XXI U-boat survives, the Wilhelm
Bauer (formerly U-2540), which is now part of the German Maritime Museum in
Bremerhaven.

Nov 27, 2016

In June 2016, the PLAN released a clear photo of its newest, stealthiest nuclear attack submarine (SSN) being loaded with missiles. China's nuclear submarines are among the most secretive Chinese military platforms- it's a rare event to have even a photo of a forty year old Type 091 Han submarine, or the Type 092 Xia nuclear ballistic missile submarine.

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About Me

Mitch Williamson is a technical writer with an
interest in military and naval affairs. He has published articles in
Cross & Cockade International and Wartime magazines. He was
research associate for the Bio-history Cross in the Sky, a book about
Charles 'Moth' Eaton's career, in collaboration with the flier's son,
Dr Charles S. Eaton. He also assisted in picture research for John
Burton's Fortnight of Infamy.
Mitch is now publishing on the WWW various specialist websites combined
with custom website design work.